That Isn't Possible
by Ispell2
Summary: Sole Survivor Talia hasn't been feeling too well lately, so her lover John Hancock does his best to convince her to go to Vault 81, the nearest settlement to them at the moment, to get checked out. What they find is more than a little puzzling-not to mention almost impossible.
1. Chapter 1

Talia's stomach lurched and she dropped to her knees and vomited. "Aw, Jesus Tally. Right here?", Hancock said with a little disgust. He was never too big on other people vomiting, even if it was the woman he loved.

"I can't-"

"Really-"

"Help it!", she gasped out in between each wretch.

"Yeah, but this's gotta be the third time in the past two days! You aren't sick, are you? Could be radiation poisoning", he replied, averting his eyes.

Talia spat on the ground and attempted to stand back up, and promptly fell back down.

"It can't be, I took some Radaway yesterday! Besides, we haven't even gone close to any hot-spots _or_ the ocean", she croaked with a raw, hoarse throat as her lover helped her back up and steady on her feet.

"You know what? We're close to Vault 81, let's go get you checked out", said John, leading Talia in the correct direction. She opened her mouth to protest, but a gurgle from her stomach made her shut it abruptly.

"Yeah, just like I thought. You're in no condition to argue."

"I'm _fine,_ John. I'm just a little nauseated, a little tired; that's all."

"Yeah, right. Hey, maybe you're pregnant!", Hancock joked.

"Hilarious. Make fun of my misery, why don't you?", snapped the exhausted Talia.

"Ah, come on. You aren't usually this touchy. You know I didn't mean any way but a joke", the ghoul said calmly.

Talia sighed.

"I know, I know. Fine, let's go talk to Dr. Forsythe."

* * *

"It's good to see you, Talia! What brings you to the vault this time? Supplies? Visiting?", said Dr. Forsythe cheerfully as Hancock helped Talia into the infirmary and into a chair.

"I wish, Doc. I think I'm sick", Talia replied with a strained voice.

Doctor Forsythe frowned.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. Well, let's check you out. What are the symptoms?"

Talia ready herself for the pain of speaking with such a raw throat when Hancock interrupted.

"For starters, she's been throwing up. _A lot_. She's also getting tired real easily, and she's been kind of, um..."

He cast a glance at Talia, who was glaring up at him from her seat.

"Moody, lately."

Doctor Forsythe put a hand against her head. "Well, you're not running a fever. Mayor Hancock, there are a few personal questions I need to ask Talia. Would you mind leaving the room?"

"There's nothing she'll say I haven't heard before."

"It's my policy. Wait outside please."

Hancock shrugged and walked towards the door. "Let me know when I can come back in, I guess", he said, a little offended.

"Now", the doctor began,"Have you been doing anything differently?"

"No"

"Any changes in your body? Aside from the fatigue, nausea, and mood swings I mean."

"Not that I've noticed."

"I have to ask this, and please don't take offense, but... Are there other men aside from Hancock?"

"What?! No!", Talia shouted angrily.

The Doctor gestured for her to calm down.

"I have to ask. Is there any chance of a venereal disease?"

"...It's possible, but John doesn't seem to be sick. There aren't any signs of him or myself having any STD's anywhere. None that I was ever taught about, anyway."

"Well, I'll have to take some blood, but I can't think of anything that could be making you sick like this."

Talia winced. She didn't like needles.

"Alright. Stick me. But _please_ make sure you have a decent vein first!"

The doctor laughed.

"You got it."

* * *

Talia had wandered over to the schoolroom, where an over-excited Katy had insisted upon her telling stories of her adventures to the children. She was in the middle of a story about the Cabot family and her daring attack on the super-drugged Raiders and the telekinetic, ageless Lorenzo Cabot when Hancock appeared and leaned on the doorway. Talia shot him a smile and resumed her story, nodding him over. This was Hancock's favorite part of visiting Vault 81; telling the stories of their exploits around the Commonwealth. He loved to see their little eyes widen when they got in that pinch over in the West Turnpike, as if they didn't know whether he and Talia would live through the story. Kids their age were fun like that; too little to think things through enough, but big enough that they understood a situation.

"When bang!", Hancock shouted as he jumped into veiw of the schoolchildren."A shot whizzes past my head-grazing my hat by the way _Talia-_ and hits the Raider on my left right in the face! While his buddy was distracted, I took advantage of the situation and cold-cocked the guy in front of me with the butt of my shotgun. He was out cold, and-"

"We left him that way, and kept going!", Talia interrupted, giving Hancock a semi-panicked look. Sometimes he got a little carried away and forgot Katy's one rule; leave out the gory details.

"That was the last Raider we saw for a little while. But when we got to the room where Lorenzo was locked up, he had three Raiders nearby that were trying to let him loose! Mr. Cabot told us to go in, and he'd open doors for us one by one along the way. We snuck up on one of them, and... knocked him out. Then we made the next closest one go to sleep too with a special gun called a 'syringer'. I shot a "sleeping medicine" at him, and he fell right asleep!", Talia said.

She bobbed her head down to the kids surrounding her, and Hancock walked up behind her. He clasped his hands around her shoulders and knelt in front of them, getting close.

"The last guy put up a big fight. He wasn't a friendly character, I'll tell you that much. He grabbed my coat and tore a chunk of it off! Rather the coat than me, I guess. Talia fixed it up later, though", he said, standing up and spinning around to point at a poorly-stitched-back-on flap of red wool on the the back of his coat.

"We got them good. Then we were told we needed to flip a bunch of switches for the Egghead that hired us. Would've been easy, except ol' Lorenzo was trying his best to shall we say... _sway_ our opinions. I wasn't particularly conflicted myself, but Talia here was getting really confused. So, I flipped the first switch. She snapped out of it, and we got all four of them. Lorenzo was pleading at the last switch, and when we turned it on the Egghead told his father goodnight. Lorenzo fell asleep, and he won't be waking up any time soon.", Hancock said, finishing the story with a theatrical bow.

The children clapped and cheered with delight, and were abuzz with questions. Talia was about to take one when she noticed Dr. Forsythe, rather pale faced, beckoning them out to him. The children groaned and waved goodbye when Talia told them she had to go now, but she'd be back again soon!

"Any news, Doctor?", Talia asked him, a little worried due to his almost fearful expression.

"Ah... Well... Your bloodwork came back normal. Healthy. A little anemic, but that's normal."

"And?"

"And you... Uh, well you..."

"Spit it out, Doc!", Hancock said impatiently.

"You are, somehow, by the grace of God... _Pregnant_."

Both Talia and Hancock stood completely still.

"I... I'm sorry, she's _what_?", Hancock stammered, completely floored. There was no way...

"Pregnant. Somehow. I didn't even think it was possible."

"It's not! It's... It's not, right? There's got to be some kind of mistake!", Talia blurted out.

"That's what I thought too. I ran three more tests to make certain. You, Talia, are pregnant", said Forsythe matter-of-factly.

Hancock stared at Talia, his eyes going back and forth from her stomach to her face. He was about to speak when Talia punched him on the arm.

" _Ow!_ What the hell was _that_ for?!", he cried.

"I know what you were thinking, and I swear to God I've been faithful this entire damn time, asshole!", she hissed through her teeth.

Hancock sulkily rubbed his sore arm, but said nothing else. That _was_ what he was about to ask, after all.

"Listen... As great of a miracle as this may be, there are some unpleasant realities of this situation you two should be aware of. This child is very unlikely to survive through the pregnancy. It's amazing that you two could even conceive in the first place, considering the fact that _you_ ," he said, pointing at Hancock,"have had-and this is a medical term-the absolute ever-loving _shit_ irradiated out of you. A child that you managed to help conceive is probably not going to be healthy. I'm amazed you still have testes. That's not me being rude; I am genuinely amazed. I mean, your nose fell off, so why wouldn't any other soft tissue? Perhaps it's the way you received the radiation? Over how long a period did you-"

" **Doctor.** Now is really not the time for this. What the hell is going on? And wouldn't the fact that this... baby, has survived this long indicate to you that it's healthy enough to survive?", Hancock said with more than a little aggression.

"Yeah! How long have I been pregnant, anyway?", Talia added.

"About two months. Didn't you notice that you weren't getting your period?"

"Well, yeah, but I figured all the exposure I've had over the past five years made it so my body had... Y'know, _stopped_ it."

"That happens sometimes. But it didn't for you."

Talia sighed, scrambling desperately in her mind for the right questions.

"Can I have an ultra-sound? I mean, you have the equipment, don't you? And even if you don't, I can go and yank the stuff for it from a hospital."

"I don't see why not. It would be good to see how the fetus has developed up to this point."

"I'm sorry. One more time; _Talia_ is pregnant, and _I'm_ the... the...", Hancock started.

"The father?", Talia suggested.

"Yeah. Um, that."

"Yes. I really don't know how. I'm sorry. Or, congratulations?", the Doctor said, quickly correcting himself.

It was Hancock's turn to feel sick. This was... a very strange, very unexpected surprise. He'd never seen himself as being _anyone's_ old man; not when he was human, and especially not now. He wasn't sure what to feel, what to think. He was afraid, for the first time in a long time. He found himself not just being afraid for himself and for Talia, but also afraid for the... baby, inside of Talia. The doctor was right; in all likelyhood, this kid wasn't going to live long. Even if it did survive long enough, it probably wasn't going to come out healthy, or at the very least, not normal. He imagined extra limbs and eyes, a weird looking amalgamation of human parts swaddled in a blanket. This was too much for him at that moment.

"John? Are you coming?", Talia called to him, already across the hallway.

"Uh, yeah. Be there... Be there in a minute.", he said weakly. He needed a hit in the _worst_ way. No way was he going to check out this 'ultra-sound' thing sober.


	2. Chapter 2

When Hancock came back into the infirmary, he was very quiet. He looked strange, being so serious. He hadn't had time to think about how he felt about this yet; just enough time to get just high enough to ease his completely frayed nerves. Talia was laying with her vault suit zipped open and her stomach exposed. Doctor Forsythe was pouring some kind of goop on to her belly, and she looked extremely uncomfortable. She gave Hancock a nervous look and twitched her hand. She didn't hold it out; she knew he was just as nervous and confused as she was. She wasn't willing to make him any more uncomfortable than he was already. Regardless, he walked over to her and held her hand tightly.

Half of him was hoping that it was all a mistake, that this wasn't really happening. That this was all one really bizarre, really _bad_ jet flashback. The other half... The other half wasn't exactly happy, but it wasn't upset either. He was curious, as terrible as this whole situation was making him feel. He watched carefully as the Doctor rubbed the pile of goo around Talia's stomach, spreading it around with a wand connected to a machine with a long wire. On the machine was a monitor, showing static black and white. But after a moment of moving the wand around, the Doctor looked back up and at the machine, pressing a few buttons. An image appeared; an oddly shaped blob, pulsating slowly.

"What the fuck is that?", he finally said, breaking his silence.

"That", began Doctor Forsythe,"is your baby. Your... remarkably healthy baby. See that big blob right there? That's it's head. This is it's body. This... This is astonishing! I can't see any anomalies at all! Of course, it's still in very early development, but so far this little child right here," he gestured to Talia's stomach,"is a perfectly healthy human baby!"

"...Huh", was all Hancock said. He felt a warm glow in his heart, and not the kind you get from being irradiated. The kind he felt when he and Talia first admitted feelings for each other. On their first night together. When they made things exclusive. It was a sensation that was quickly spreading throughout his body, tingling sensation flowing through him. One moment he was terrified; the next, he was ecstatic. He glanced at Talia, who was staring intently at the scree, a smile spreading across her lips.

"John... This is ours. Our baby. God... We're going to have a baby. A little you. A little me. A little _us!_ ", she said with a quiet breath.

"Let's hope he doesn't come out lookin' _too_ much like me.", Hancock replied, gripping Talia's hand even tighter.

"I don't know about that...", Talia trailed off.

"That he'll look like me?!"

"That it'll be a he. This doesn't feel the way Shaun felt. I bet it's a girl!"

"We'll see in two months. For now, I'd think it's best if you stay in the vault for your pregnancy-or at least nearby, anyway."

Talia's head snapped back to look at the doctor with an expression of total shock.

"That's just not going to happen, Doctor! I've got way too many places to go, and way too many people to help!"

"Yes, and I'm _sure_ that a little light lead poisoning will most _definitely_ help the odds of your baby living to term", Forsythe replied harshly.

Talias lips pressed together tightly. She really couldn't argue against that. But staying in one single place for 8 months... That seemed absolutely unbearable.

"What if... What if we could come to a compromise? I stay somewhere else, somewhere with a good doctor. I come back in a few months for another checkup, or you come visit that place, and that's that. What'd'ya say?"

Doctor Forsythe had a sinking feeling as to where she was referring, and was loathe to confirm it.

"Where exactly where you thinking?", he asked with a sigh.

"Goodneighbor", Talia and Hancock said at the same time.

The Doctor looked at them like they were both crazy.

"Hear us out, Doc", Hancock added quickly.

"For starters, considering all the enemies I've made, I need to be somewhere I know is absolutely safe for me. I can only think of one other place, but I'm not staying somewhere where my- wait. What are you to me, anyway? My boyfriend? Husband?", Talia said with a furrowed brow.

Hancock shrugged. "For lack of a better word, let's go with Partner. The first one's too weird at my age, and the second one's... scary."

"Partner, then, isn't welcome for the whole damn 6 months I've got left!"

"Perhaps you could come to some sort of agreement with the Mayor?", Forsythe asked, exasperated.

Talia and Hancock shared an uncomfortable glance.

"That's... Uh... Particularly unlikely. Once _he_ finds out whose kid this is... Things'll go south real fast. If he doesn't already guess I mean. In any case, in Goodneighbor, it's pretty much assured that no-one is gonna fuck with Talia. Even the real stupid ones aren't _that_ stupid. They know that if _she_ doesn't gut em' right then and there, far worse things will happen when I find out."

The Doctor rubbed his temples with an even louder, more obnoxious sigh. "If I don't comply, you two are just going to sneak out of here and go any damn place you like anyway. Fine. But I expect you back here in no less than **three months**. I doubt that the road between will be a problem for the two of _you_ , so don't try coming here any later than a few days with anything less than time itself slowing down. Do you understand?"

"Crystal, Doctor Forsythe.", Talia answered as Hancock helped her sit up on the table. She zipped herself up and the Doctor gave her a list of things to avoid doing at all costs. She looked through it and knew that most of these she would be breaking at least twice in the next week alone. Maybe when she was bigger she'd worry about these, but for now... Then there was the issue of how sick she was getting. Forsythe gave her a few vials of anti-nausea medication, but told her to use it as sparingly as possible. He said some of the nausea would subside within the next few months, but she was certain that it wasn't going to let her alone that easily. This was all happening so suddenly, so fast; she couldn't help be feel a little dissociated. Like she was looking at all these events through a picture in a storybook.

She was elated, but so very confused. Just like Hancock, the absolute _impossibility_ of it all was enough to make everything around them feel unreal. So, until she could really feel anything again, she'd be going through all of this with a numb fluidity. Taking it in stride, but without really noticing. It'd be almost three days, a few moments after walking in to Goodneighbor and being asked how they were by Daisy that they began to grasp the reality of their predicament. Talia's mouth went dry as she groped through her mind for the right things to say. Should she tell her? Should she make an excuse? It didn't matter; Hancock seemed to panic at the question.

 _"Pregnant."_ , he practically shouted in a voice that sounded like he had been holding his breath for entire uncomfortable thirty seconds that had passed since Daisy had asked.

Daisy's eyes went wide and her smile dropped from her face.

" _Whaaaat?!_ "

There weren't a whole lot of people milling about, even though it was the middle of the day by then, but those who were within earshot (and that wasn't a small range) pretty much entirely stopped what they were doing and swarmed over.

"What do you _mean_ " ** _pregnant_** "?!"

"Are you serious?!"

"Talia I can't believe you!"

"What the hell's going on?"

"You probably shouldn't have done that, love...", Talia leaned over and whispered to the shaking Hancock. It was his turn to stand mouth agape and dry. She elbowed him in the ribs, and he seemed to snap out of his initial panic.

Though he was still pretty fuzzy on what he was supposed to do _now_ , he managed to get ahold of himself outwardly and enough to give a statement.

"Alright, alright! Now listen up, 'cause I'm only gonna say this once! Let's start with the obvious: _Talia did not go wandering. This kid is definitely mine, no matter how crazy this is sounding._ That said, we know just as much about how the hell it happened as you; _nothing_. We don't know anything, and I doubt we're gonna get any real answers. And it goes without saying that everyone better be doing their best to make this easy on Talia. No badgering her about this, no going out of your way to make any little _piece_ of this puzzle harder than it needs to be. I don't give a fuck about any rumors that might go around, but if I hear about anyone harassing her about this, I'm gonna make things nice and simple for them; they're gonna wish they'd never even _heard_ of me.", he shouted to the crowd in the most charming and most menacing voice he could muster.

A few murmurs shot through the still gathering crowd of people. Even KLEO had joined the masses. Daisy was the first to step forward.

"I, uh... Congratulations, Talia. Hancock.", she said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself that there was nothing to wonder about. It took her a moment, but Daisy soon came to realize what a wonderful thing it was. She was a good friend to them over the years, and it took her less time than any of the other people there to assure herself that Talia really hadn't been fooling around. Her face lit up, and she stepped even closer and grasped Talia's hands in her own.

"You know what? I really mean it. I'm so happy for you both. This couldn't have happened to a better couple.", she smiled. She lowered her head and bent toward Hancock. "Don't fuck it up, kid.", she muttered and merrily walked back to her shop, leaving a confused Hancock and a giggling Talia to the rest of the people of Goodneighbor. The next few people were similar in their congratulations. Two walked away from the crowd shaking their heads, and one immediately ran to the Third Rail to spread the word. They weren't sure what was going to come of this; Talia wasn't even showing yet and here they were announcing a pregnancy that was almost assured to end badly. When they got back to the Old State House a few hours later, they were exhausted.

Talia sat on the bed after a wave of nausea and injected a bit of the medicine the Doctor had given her. She was still nauseous, but she stopped vomiting at least. She was quiet, looking down at her feet with a flushed face. Hancock looked at her with a lot of concern. This was going to be really tough on her, wasn't it?

"Hey.", he said gently as he knelt in front of her and held on to her arms. "No matter what happens next... I want you to know that this is the best thing that could ever have happened to me. You and that kid... This is more than I've ever deserved. Whatever road this takes us on, we will always have this point in our lives. This happened, despite overwhelming odds, and nothing can take that away." He pulled her into a tight hug and she wrapped her arms around him instinctively.

"I love you.", was all she could say.

"I love you too."


	3. Chapter 3

Three months went by pretty quickly. Talia ballooned up, and thankfully with each passing month the nausea seemed to calm a little. Unfortunately, for every week that went by with minimal vomit, the pains in her back seemed to swell. For the most part she remained in Goodneighbor, and found little ways to keep herself occupied. Preston visited frequently to give her updates on the Settlements and take back orders and advice for all the problems they seemed to collect in her absence. She took up knitting, much to the amusement of Hancock. He found it hilarious that the woman who just a few months ago was toting a sniper rifle and gunning down raiders and baddies with little remorse and even less error. She was stealthy and strong, and now here she was; the dark, intimidating makeup washed from her face, waddling to-and-fro in a stretchy cotton dress, knitting baby clothes and tiny hats.

When she caught him looking at her one day as she sat on a couch in his office working on a purple onesie and humming and he suddenly bust a gut laughing, it only took her a mere moment to figure out why and join him. She laughed until she had to wipe tears from her eyes and she couldn't take a breath without it catching in her throat. "I guess... I do look... a little _silly_!", she wheezed out before falling into hapless giggles again.

Fahrenheit chose that moment to investigate the crazed laughter. She stood a moment, that emotionless look she wore so well peering in through the wide open door. "You know, Day-Tripping or any other chem trip isn't good for the baby.", she said when they had died down again, setting them off once more. She let a momentary look of 'what-the-fuck' slip through before walking away again.

"Suffocating probably isn't good for the little guy, either!", Hancock snickered.

"Little... Girl!", Talia responded as she tried to breath again.

Hancock stopped laughing as abruptly as he had started. "Oh shit.", he said, jumping up, rushing over to Talia, and pulling her up off the couch; a feat she could not pull off on her own anymore.

"What, what's wrong?", she said with a sense of dread.

"Nothing like that, it's just I just remembered we're supposed to be at Vault 81 in two days. We're already going to be a couple days late, so we need to get out of here _now_ if we don't want Forsythe kidnapping the baby after it's born or something"

"Shit!"

Talia waddled towards the stairs as fast a she could.

"Wait! Do we have everything we need for the trip? Sleeping bags? A blanket for you? _Food_? No, hold on, let me get everything together and then we can go.", Hancock said, stopped Talia in her tracks. She stood still in an almost pout. Hancock had changed a bit after she started showing. He was more gentle, took less chems (at least around her), and had developed this overprotective attitude about things like Talia going outside of Goodneighbor or travelling at all. It was unlike him, and Talia didn't appreciate being treated like she was so fragile. She understood though; she continuously forgot the things she needed to be with her. However, when he didn't let her do _anything_ to help...

"I can get my own coat, you know. I'm not _completely_ helpless.", she said a little bitterly as she walked as straight a line as she could over to where she was sitting to collect a heavy green sweater that Becky Fallon had made and had sent to her through Nick when he visited. She pulled it over her head and swollen stomach and continued over to the bedroom, where she grabbed her favorite 10mm, checked the magazine, made sure that safety was on, and put it in the pocket of her dress. "It's not my rifle, but it's almost as good.", she said with a sigh, gazing longingly at the sniper rifle propped up in the corner of the room. She hadn't been able to use it lately because of the recoil.

Hancock stood at the top of the stairs with a pair of rolled up sleeping bags slung over his right shoulder.

"Ready?"

Talia nodded, and Hancock guided her down the spiral stairs carefully.

She wasn't sure how she felt about this... altered personality. She hoped to God that once the baby was born, he'd focus all of this doting attention on _her_ and not on herself. But it was still nice to see him so sweet. He said he wasn't sure what he was doing, but he seemed to be a natural at filling that role. The protectiveness was the biggest problem. She tried her best to be accommodating; after all, it was a good thing he was so careful about her. Like it or not, she really _was_ fragile. This pregnancy was taking a much larger toll on her than Shaun's pregnancy did. She'd had access to medication and a Specialist on speed dial. Then it hit her:

She was going to be giving birth without pain control.

No epidural, no medication. She remembered how badly the contractions had hurt and even then, she had gotten a C-section within a few hours of labor. That was a little risky now, but childbirth out in the wasteland was going to be risky no matter what. That didn't alleviate any fear though. She considered saying something about it to Hancock, but what could she say? It'd all be normal stuff, nothing to concern anyone about. Hancock caught on to how nervous she was pretty quickly.

He made sure not to say anything about it until after they were clear of the threshold of Goodneighbor.

"Is something wrong, Tally?", he said as he trekked along beside her.

She hesitated.

"I... I'm okay. Really. I've just been thinking about what's going to happen when I actually give birth. It's a little daunting, the thought of all that pain", she replied with a slightly shaky voice.

"Yeah... There's not much we can do about that, is there?"

"I know. That's why I didn't say anything. I'll be fine, though."

They continued on in silence for awhile before Hancock spoke up.

"I'm sorry", he said quietly, with his eyes to the ground.

Talia looked at his face with shock.

"What?! No, don't be! This... This is a blessing, and a burden I am more than willing to carry!"

It clicked in her head.

"Is this what all the extra attention has been about? You feel guilty?", she asked.

He said nothing, but looked her in the eye with embarrassment and-yes-obvious guilt.

She held on to his forearm and stopped him for walking on. She moved her hand to cup the side of his face and returned his shameful expression with a look she seldom gave anyone, including Hancock; pure, forgiving, absolute love.

"John, you have nothing to be sorry for! This is just the way pregnancy works for the women in my family. I love this baby. I love _you_. I wouldn't give either up, or change the way this has worked out for the _world_ -and I mean that literally."

She kissed him lovingly, trying her best to reassure him.

"Please don't feel bad about this, because this something so wonderful I could never have imagined it in my most far-off fantasies.", she gently said as she pulled her lips away from his. He put his arms around her waist carefully and put his forehead on hers.

"Am I being too much?", he asked in a quiet voice.

"Not at all, love.", Talia whispered as she kissed him again.

"I'm still sorting all of this out. I'm happy, but I see the strain you're under and I can't help but think that it's my fault."

"No. Me being pregnant, certainly; but nothing else is anyone's fault."

She smiled hopefully at Hancock, and he forced a crooked smile back. He may not feel that way right now, but if he didn't show Talia that he would be okay, he really _would_ be causing her pain.

* * *

Doctor Forsythe wasn't pleased when they finally arrived five days later. They had to go much slower, and much more carefully than they'd realized. They'd completely forgotten to factor in that travelling with a pregnant woman was not going to make the trip easier. They were lucky, though; there was only one close call with a small group of raiders. There were only three of them, though, and Talia had made quick work of them.

Hancock had been helping her over a hill, his back facing the Raiders, and Talia had spotted them accidentally. She saw a glimmer of metal against the summer sun, and watched as the beam of light moved up and down the butt of the rifle. Without saying a word to Hancock, she quickly pulled her pistol from its holster and fired a little to the right of where she had seen the glint-nailing the Raider right in the head. A shout rang out, and before Hancock had turned around completely, his own rifle in hand, the two remaining Raiders leapt out from behind a pile of rubble and charged forward.

They were obviously new initiates in whatever gang of Raiders they were from, because aside from the rifleman they were poorly armed. In any other case, she would have considered wounding them, scaring them shitless, and letting them go; a sort of 'scared straight' idea she'd had. But this wasn't any other case. Her child's safety was involved. Hancock fired two rounds, one bullet hitting the nearest Raider's leg, the other missing. Talia fired three bullets-the nearest Raider fell with a gurgle as the projectile pierced his chest and filled his lungs with blood. Two more bullets, and the other Raider didn't even get a chance to take a dying breath before he hit the ground-another headshot.

Hancock was angry that she hadn't said anything before pulling her gun out and shooting, but he was also relieved that it was over quick and nobody... well, neither of _them_ was hurt.

"Maybe, next time... a little _warning_?!", he said, almost shouting.

"Sorry! Sorry! I just kinda... reacted. Sorry. Next time I'll say something!", Talia replied sheepishly.

Hancock sighed and put his hand out for her to take again. After all, she was still on the other side. How she managed to handle the recoil of his gun and not tumble like a bowling ball back down the hill while stand on the up-slope was beyond him.

"Let's hope there _isn't_ a 'next time', okay?", he said, visibly softening as he pulled Talia over the top of the hill and steadying her.

Talia winced and put a hand on her stomach.

"Are you okay?", Hancock asked with surprise.

"Yeah, I'm fine. The baby's kicking, is all."

The worried lines in Hancock's forehead vanished and he smiled with delight. Embarrassed with the goofy grin on his face, he tried his hardest not to be such an innocent-eyed dweeb about these things; but he couldn't shake that lighthearted delight. It was the same every time the baby kicked. Every time it happened made him as giddy as the first. He still couldn't get over it; a _baby_! It was almost enough to make him believe in miracles. Ever the Catholic Talia had of course made it a point to start practicing more than she used to. She was more careful about cursing (which, in all reality, didn't work out so well). She tried to remember bits and pieces of the Scriptures. And, for the first time since she found Shaun, she started praying again.

Hancock had never been much for Religion, but he'd always tried to respect the beliefs of the people he met. Talia never pressured him to take part in her worship, but he found himself saying a little prayer every now and then. Mostly for the health of his family, sometimes for the people of Goodneighbor when things got harsh.

"Hey, God. Can you try and make sure that we don't die today? Thanks."

He noticed a change in Talia's personality, too. She was perkier, more appreciative of everything around her. He'd catch her staring at a forest, or watching Radstag herds, and when she noticed, she'd say something about how amazing it was that they were still growing. Still strong.

It was like... Like she had found redemption or something. And on the night before they finally reached the vault, he finally asked her about it.

[SPOILERS FOR FINDING SHAUN, IF YOU HAVEN'T YET THEN SKIP THIS UNTIL I PLACE MORE BRACKETS]"Well... It's like this; I had my family. My perfect life. I was successful in all aspects of the word. I had my husband, and my son, and my amazing job... And then shit went down and I lost _everything_. I fought my way, tooth and nail, through the Commonwealth, and I wasn't going to stop until I found what I was looking for. I still had a _purpose_ , whether it was helping out with the Minutemen, or the Railroad, or even the Brotherhood- _before_ I realized how crazy they were. I was looking for Shaun and helping people along the way. And then when I _found_ him, and saw what he had become... Who the Institute had _made_ him become... I lost all that hope I had gained along the way. I had my friends, and I had the people I've saved, and most importantly; I had _you_!-but it still didn't make up for the absolute, soul-crushing _guilt_ I felt. It took most of the past three years to get to a point where I could smile and _mean_ it."[YOU CAN READ AGAIN]

"But then... Then _this_ happened. This crazy, beautiful thing that is... _beyond_ what I had expected I could get out of life here! It's made me _believe_ in good things again! I guess I'm just... really grateful for this second chance. I don't know if it's insane luck, or a straight up _miracle,_ but it happened. I didn't get a chance to raise Shaun the way she should have been raised. With this little girl-"

"Or boy!"

Talia laughed and nodded.

"Or boy-I can make things different. I feel a little bad, though. Like I'm replacing Shaun. The baby that "didn't come out right, so now I have to start over", she said looking down, a far off look settling in her eyes.

"I miss him, John. I wish things could have turned out differently."

Hancock put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side.

"What happened wasn't your fault, Talia. You've got to know that.", he replied in a strong voice.

"I know. It doesn't change that if I could have been there for him, things might've turned out differently."

Hancock didn't know how to respond, so the melancholy air remained until Talia finally shook her head and snapped out of it.

"But, this _is_ different. There's no one to wrench a baby out of anyone's hands anymore. No one to shoot you, or me. I won't go through that a second time. Not ever. I'm stronger than I was five years ago; nothing is going to get in the way any more. At least, not for _long_ ", Talia smiled, elbowing Hancock in the ribs at that last part.


	4. Chapter 4

Things went smoothly. A little _too_ smoothly, if you'd ask them. But nothing major happened on the way back, and the baby was forming healthily; no signs of illness or really any problems.

 **She** was a normal, healthy, human baby.

And before they'd even reached Goodneighbor, Talia was chattering on excitedly about names.

"How about Mary? Or Maria, like my mother? I've always liked Samantha, or maybe Patricia. Oh! Or we could name her Luisa, after my Abuela!", Talia yammered on.

It took _days_ before she realized that Hancock wasn't bouncing any ideas off of her. In fact, he'd been very... Not _withdrawn_ , but less outgoing. He'd surrounded himself with busywork-something he'd always foisted off on Talia before. She stayed silent (relatively) for a few days, hoping he'd go back to his usual self, but when he didn't she decided to confront him.

She carried herself into his office and sank into the seat next to him on the couch. He glanced over at her, gave a faint smile, and went back to shifting through a small pile of papers. She just stared at him, smiling.

"Can I help you with something, babe?", Hancock said, finally giving up and turning towards her.

"Actually-can I help _you_?", Talia replied. "Wait, that came out like an accusation. Let me try again... Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"You've been kind of... reclusive since we got back. You've been hiding in here almost the whole time."

Hancock set the papers and his pen down.

"I've just got a lot on my mind, I guess."

"Like what?", Talia asked sweetly, taking one of his hands in hers.

Hancock leaned into the couch and lay his head on Talia's chest with his face next to her expanded stomach-a habit he'd picked up once she'd started showing.

"Well... I've never been a big fan of this stuff. You know... _Domestic_ stuff. Bein' 'Mayor of Goodneighbor' is as close to bein' _that_ guy as I've ever gotten-or _wanted_ to get. But, as much as I want to say that I want to run off and go back to the way things were before we got pregnant... I kinda _like_ the way this feels. It feels... I dunno. _Complete_. Good. Like I've got it pretty damn good, y'know? At the same time, I don't want to become 'regular Joe Schmoe'. I don't wanna be 'Mr. Wholesome Familyman Mayor'", he said ashamedly, rubbing Talia's belly.

"Oh, _honey_! There are a lot of words that a lot of people would use to describe you, and 'wholesome', 'regular Joe', and 'domestic' are none of them!", she giggled.

"Y' promise?", he said after a moment, beaming up at her with that crooked smile.

"If anything, it makes you _more_ of a freak."

"Hey, _you're_ the one who actually got pregnant. Makes _us_ more of a _pair_ of freaks."

Talia stuck her tongue out.

"Either way, you are not only abnormal as _fuck_ ", she smiled and reached out to hold his face.

"You're downright _amazing_."

He stopped rubbing to kiss the top of her pregnancy belly and put his head down on her again, beaming.

"Bonnie."

"... Pardon?"

"I like Bonnie."

"Bonnie?"

"Yeah. It was my mother's name."

Talia paused and thought about it, purely for show; her mind was immediately set.

"Bonnie. I like it. Little Bonnie."

Hancock couldn't have smiled brighter if his tattered lips could glow.

"Bonnie Maria Hancock."

"Actually...", Hancock started to say, sitting up.

"I want her to have the family name. Call me sentimental, but if I'm the only one who can pass it on-I'd like to pass it on. My brother may have been a jerkoff, but my parents were alright folks. Doesn't seem right that they don't get to meet their granddaughter, so maybe... This is the next best thing?"

Talia stared at him. She definitely wasn't expecting this from _him_ of all people-but it was a very pleasant surprise. Maybe he was tired. Maybe he _was_ getting soft. Maybe she was exuding estrogen into the air, and he was just inhaling the lot of it. Any way you looked at it though, he had been much more emotional lately.

Hancock looked back at her to see what she thought. He looked less _hopeful_ and more... Like it was already a done deal. And it was. Talia took a second to process, and grinned at him. She held out her arms to him, and he attempted to hug her.

"No, sweetie; up please!", she giggled.

"Heh. Sure, like _that_ wouldn't confuse anyone", he said as he helped pull her off the couch.

As soon as she was steady on her feet, Hancock stepped behind Talia and held her just above her stomach.

"I'm still going to hold you, though", he smiled.

Talia rubbed her stomach.

"Little Bonnie McDonough... You know, until now, it never occurred to me that you're Irish", she said in a ponderous tone.

"Well, I'm no Cait...", Hancock replied, kissing her neck.

"Really though. There's a lot I want to teach her about her heritage! It was important to my parents and it was important to Nate, and-now more than ever-it's important to me. I want to teach her Spanish, and tell her stories about her great-great-great-great-Grandfather who fought in the Civil War! I want her to know every part of herself, and that includes the part of her that's you!", she said excitedly, turning around and placing her hands on Hancock's shoulders.

"Uh..."

Hancock looked a little uncomfortable.

"Well...", he started.

"Yeah?"

"My mom used to tell me that, somehow, _distantly_ , I'm related to the guy that invented Cram", he shrugged.

Talia hand slapped against her forehead.

"Oh my God"

"Yeah. I guess it just didn't really occur to me that I might want to know more about this stuff. Or that my kids might. Or, y'know, _that I'd have kids_."

"Fair _enough_ ", Talia sighed.

"Hey. I might not have a lot to say on the subject, but you do. I think that'll be enough"

Talia froze, a new kind of worried look in her eye.

"But... _will_ it be enough? I mean... It's difficult enough to raise a baby, but we don't know what complications could happen that could make it even harder! What if she gets sick easily? What if she has some kind of internal problem? What if-", she had actually started to tear up before Hancock finally pulled her into an embrace and stroked her face.

"Okay, okay! Calm down. The Doc said that our girl is going to be perfectly healthy. The most we can do to make sure she _stays_ that way is to take the medicine he gave you and stop stressing about things we can't control. If you can't trust him, then at least trust _me_ on this", he assured her.

It was amazing how in just 7 months Hancock had changed-but only for her. Around the good folks of Goodneighbor, he was the same strong, scrappy ghoul that everyone knew and loved. While the doting still bothered her, she tried to understand it; after all, she was to the point where it was hard on her to walk and sit down within a few minutes of doing the other. She tried to keep her moodswings in check, but that didn't seem to work out either. There were more than a few nights when Hancock was sleeping on one of the couches in the office. He got good at saying the right things. But this wasn't one of those times.

"I _can't_ stop worrying about this stuff, John!", she said firmly.

"Oh boy. The first name", he muttered, dropping his arms to his side and taking a step back.

"This isn't important to you, I know; but this baby and everything to do with her... This is my second chance! Probably my _last_ chance for things to be the way they should be! I don't think my heart could take it if something went wrong when she's born!"

"Talia-"

"The Doctor has all the answers? Then how come he can't explain how I got pregnant in the first place?!"

"Talia, he _did_. Something about genes and resistant sperm and a whole manner of stuff I'm not comfortable saying-"

"You're comfortable with explaining every detail in a particularly gruesome torture of a Forged idiot, but _you're not comfortable talking about how your nads work._ ", Talia replied incredulously.

She turned and walked to the stairs in a huff.

"I'm just going to go waddle out into the town. I need to talk to someone who gets it", Talia said angrily.

She immediately relaxed her shoulders and sighed, upset at herself for saying such a cruel thing.

"I'm just... I'm just going to go visit Daisy. I'll be back later.", Talia said defeatedly, without looking back at Hancock.

"Talia, wait-", Hancock said, raising his voice and stretching out a hand.

She turned her head sharply, hoping he had something to say to make her stay.

"I... I'll be here...When you come back."

* * *

He was true to his word. Hancock was still in that room, even-though a hell of a lot less sober. He caught sight of Talia and gave a toothy grin.

"Hey! Look who's back!"

"Hi. I'm sorry about earlier. I just... It's just all the... Look, pregnancy is hard on a woman and...It's like everything hitting me at once and-"

"Talia. Sweetheart. Babe. Love. It's all good. I forgive you. I'm not mad or anything", he says, cutting her off and standing up.

"Oh... Honey... How high _are_ you?", Talia inquired with a small laugh.

"Just high enough to get the thought process going, and just sober enough to understand what the fuck I need to think about. Oh! Right; I'm sorry too."

"There's nothing for you to be sorry for! You were just trying to get me to calm down", Talia gently replied.

"So... What all did you take?", she asked.

"Hmmm... Guess!", Hancock smiled, taking Talia's hands in his own.

"Well, I'm definitely sold on Mentats, probably Jet, and your breath definitely smells like beer... Though I'm not really sure which kind."

"Pfft. Amateur."

Talia lightly punched his should at this.

"Fine, a... Lager."

"Wrong. I had two Stouts."

"Hmmph. Don't judge me; you know I'm not a fan of dark liquors."

"Racist."

She punched him again, a little harder this time.

She felt a lot better now, and had hoped that Hancock felt a little better too. She left him in a bit of a state.

The drinks and the chems didn't concern her terribly. He didn't use them as a coping mechanism anymore. Well, not as often anyway. As long as he wasn't endangering himself or others, and wasn't black-out drunk in the State House (Not while there's a pregnant woman there, anyway) then she wasn't too upset. She admitted to herself that she wished she could join the little party and indulge in a bufftat, but that wasn't a risk she was willing to take.

They stood in silence for awhile, (though they ended up back on the couch, where the whole incident began) just basking in each others company-savoring every moment of the afterglow of an argument. That warm serenity you feel after crying; that feeling of safety and confidence. Like you can pull through anything. For Talia, that feeling was doubled by having her partner there with her.

"What do you think she'll look like?", Talia whispered.

Hancock looked off to the side for a moment before answering.

"I bet she'll look just like you. She'll have brown hair, and grey eyes, and she'll be beautiful. She'll grow up to be tan and tall and... toothy."

"Toothy?", Talia laughed.

"Sure! You need strong teeth, don't you?", he cracked up.

"I think she'll look like you; short and... uh... What did you look like, anyway?", she asked with a tinge of guilt.

"The usual. Imagine my brother, just about 300x more handsome."

Talia pouted, and Hancock obliged.

" _Fiiine_. I was a pasty fuckin' blonde. Curls and everything. Wore em' in a ponytail about down to my shoulderblades. Happy now?"

Talia couldn't keep herself from laughed even harder than before at the prospect of a goldie-locks style Hancock.

"Real mature, Tally.", Hancock remarked, obviously pretending to be insulted.

"Aha... It's just... an odd... _image_!", she replied, bursting into laughter once again at the last word.

Hancock waited out the next three minutes in amazement of how long she could hold her breath before gasping for air and repeating the cycle.

"Are you done?", he asked her, now somewhat irked at how intensely funny she thought that was.

" _Yes, I think so_.", Talia wheezed.

He softened when she laid her head on his shoulder (still giggling) and intertwined her fingers with his.

"John."

"This is the first name I like to hear.", he says with a kiss on her head.

"I'm really glad I have you."

"I love you, too."

"I'm think I'm ready to say something now."

"Yeah?"

"I think... I think I'm happier than I've ever been before. When everything happened, and Nate died, and Shaun... Happened... I felt like I had nothing left to live for. But you made me keep going. You made me stay alive, keep doing the work I do; keep helping people and making the Commonwealth a little better of a place to live. All that hurt and pain and pieces of me that I'll never get back... I'm better than I was. Those holes have been filling back up with all the things that have happened since. The friends I've made, the lives I've saved, and most importantly-the family I have now. I wouldn't still be here if It weren't for you. I know how I said that I feel guilty about Bonnie? Like I'm replacing Shaun? Or like I'm replacing Nate? Well, I don't feel that way anymore. I've made my peace. This is an entire other level of... I'm not sure what to call it. Love? Community? Family? Ugh I sound so _cheesy_. Forget it."

"No. Keep going.", Hancock urged her.

She smiled sleepily.

"I love you and Bonnie in an entirely different way. A _stronger_ way. Back then, relationships were easier. You weren't trying to juggle keeping in touch with a post-apocalyptic wasteland. You could go to a couple's counselor if you were having a lot of trouble, or there were a thousand ways you could try to spice things up. There's very little of those sorts of things left. If we can make things work for more than three years in this kind of an environment, find a way through arguments and fights and me being crazy with all the extra hormones and picking said fights... I think that because of all that's happened, that **we** are stronger than anything the Commonwealth can throw at us. Even though I feel awful most of the time, and my feet are bloated, and I can barely carry myself on my own legs because I'm the size of an adult brahmin, and-"

"I get the picture, love."

"I feel stronger than I ever have before."

Hancock's heart hadn't been this warm since the day they found out about Bonnie. He certainly hadn't planned on this new third-life of his, but it felt like pieces of a puzzle coming into place. He could have his cred as a cunning, scary, almost ruthless bastard to the folks who were against him and his; a good, intelligent leader who never acted above those he came from; and now, a content, caring partner and father. _"Partner..."_ , he mused to himself. _"Maybe... A certain title isn't as scary as I thought."_


	5. Chapter 5

In her final months of pregnancy, Talia had found it too draining to go up and down the stairs all the time. They set up a cot on the first floor, and more often than not Hancock joined her at night. Talia was sleeping a lot more often, too. She'd been so easily exhausted lately that she spent most of her time in bed. She was getting sick even more frequently, her body ached, and to top everything off she was _three days_ past her due date. Not that she'd gotten a specific day from the Doctor; she had pretty much made a guesstimate as to when the most likely time would be for little Bonnie to come into the world based on the ballpark estimate Doctor Forsythe gave her for date of conception, and ran with that. She didn't like unknowns, and avoided them as much as she possibly could.

But this was an even more uncomfortable situation. Not only was the unknown all she really _did_ know now, but her own instincts had failed her. How could she explain that, even if she felt up to the task? That was the point though. While the middle months had been fine and even almost like a fairytale with the whimsy and happiness you'd expect from an old movie, she wanted this baby _out_. _NOW_.

The sickness, the physical drain, and the anticipation of knowing if there was anything wrong with her- _their_ child made every day that ticked past her original estimate itch. So, she sat on that mattress under the blankets and propped up on pillows, with not enough energy to talk, not enough energy to read, not enough energy to do anything except sit and sulk and worry.

But she had Hancock there for her, too. The sicker she got, the more tender and gentle he became. He'd spend any and all time he could spare (finding ways to get out of being a desk jockey of a Mayor was a perk of their situation, Talia had assumed) sitting with her, telling her about who had complained about what now, and which Settlements of hers he'd gotten reports on, and reading to her out of an old classic-which was more entertaining than he knew, because he was absolutely _terrible_ at reading out loud. But he'd get her to crack a weak smile every now and then with his horrible pronunciation and stumbling words. It made things a little more bearable.

Though she explained that she'd rather he stay close by and keep her warm in the cold November nights when they slept on the cot, he was cautious of crowding her or making her uncomfortable. That usually ended up with him falling onto the floor and crawling back onto the mattress, despite her requests to be close.

This worked out for him, after all.

He awoke on the floor, one leg on the mattress under the covers. Groggily he took in his senses. His first thought being, of course, _"Why am I on the ground?"_ , and his second being _"Why is my leg wet?"_.

" _Wait. Why **is** my leg wet?_", he thought to himself, suddenly snapped into focus.

He shot upright, throwing back the blanket to reveal a water soaked sheet.

 _"It's not blood_ _"_ , he whispered to himself, sighing in relief.

It only took a few more seconds for him to _really_ grasp what was happening.

"HOLY SHIT!", he shouted, rolling to the floorboards completely, kneeling over Talia.

Somehow, she was still asleep, and was wincing in pain before he finally decided to shake her awake.

 _"Talia! **Talia, wake up**!_ ", he said loudly, trying to stay calm himself.

" _mmmm_?"

"Wake up! Your water broke!", he shouted again, panic breaking through his voice and the last few words sending a shiver down his spine.

Talia's eyes opened wide and she rolled herself over as quickly as she could to lay on her back, just in time for a wave of pain to wash over her. She yelled in pain as she clenched her fists into the mattress, tossing her head back and squeezing her eyes shut tightly. Hancock's heart raced and he scrambled to organize his thoughts. As the contraction ended, he managed to focus enough to think.

"Okay! I'll-I'll be right back! Stay put!", he shouted, fumbling for his clothes. He didn't bother getting his hat or coat as he made a dash for the door.

" _WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I'D BE GOING?!_ ", Talia screamed after him.

"Sorry, sorry! I just-I can't-Uh-"

" _GO!_ "

"Sorry!", he repeated, and hurried out the door.

* * *

Daisy seldom slept, and never for long it seemed. She was the reasonable choice of help, not to mention she was Talia's best friend besides Hancock and Dogmeat. So he made a beeline for her shop. Just as he suspected, she was standing behind the counter, humming some pre-war tune and checking inventory.

" _DAISY!_ _DAISY!_ ", Hancock shouted, waking up nearly half of Goodneighbor.

"What, what is it?! Is something wrong?!", Daisy replied, worried that someone was hurt.

" _Baby... coming... HELP!_ ", he gasped.

Daisy dropped the glass she had been holding, shattering it on the cement. Daisy didn't even look at the glass splinters on the floor before springing into midwife-action.

" _Stay calm_ , Hancock! The last thing she needs right now is for you to be a panicking mess!", she said sternly, running to the back of the store.

She came back with a large stew pot, half full of assorted goods. A stimpak, some clean washcloths and towels, antiseptic, a smaller plastic tub, a blanket, a scalpel, a surgical needle and stitching thread, a pair of scissors, and a bunsen burner. Everything she needed-or at the very least, everything she could get her hands on-to deliver a baby.

"Come on now, don't just stand there! Let's go!", Daisy demanded as she walked hastily to the State House.

* * *

"Talia, I'm back! And I brought Daisy! She's got supplies, too!", Hancock called out after shutting the door.

"Oh thank _GOD_!", Talia shouted weakly.

Daisy and Hancock helped Talia to her feet, and Daisy flipped the mattress so that the dry side was up. After laying Talia back down, she emptied the contents of the pot onto the end of the cot and handed to Hancock.

"Go fill this with water, and put it on the stove!", Daisy commanded.

Hancock didn't question her, though he wasn't sure why-as he wasn't thinking clearly-and darted for the nearest water spigot.

"How you holdin' up, darlin'?", Daisy calmly asked Talia.

Talia chuckled facetiously.

"Oh, just _fine_. No problems here! It's not like i'm in unimaginable _pain_ every 9 minutes!", she snapped, her face contorting in pain.

" _Ten minutes_?! Already?! Talia, why didn't Hancock come for me sooner?!", Daisy said, surprised to the point of almost shrieking, and hurried to the end of the cot.

" _Haaaah_...- _huff-_ To be honest- _huff-_ I was asleep", Talia answered, riding out the contraction.

Daisy gave her an incredulous look, smiled, and shook her head.

"Only you..."

Talia had already assumed position and removed what clothing needed to be removed. All that remained was for Daisy to check her body.

"Holy shit Talia!", Daisy shouted again. "You're already at 5 centimeters! How long have you been in labor?!"

"I don't know! A few hours maybe?", Talia said, agitated.

Daisy sighed and looked around anxiously for Hancock and the boiling water.

"Well, it _is_ your second child... But still, the second shouldn't come _this_ fast!"

"She's kind of already exceptional, Daisy."

Daisy smiled and rubbed Talia's arm.

"Very true."

Hancock came tromping back to them with a pot full of boiling water, being careful-but not quite careful enough-not to let it slosh around _too_ much.

He set it down next to Daisy and knelt beside Talia, taking her hand. His eyes were wide and he was almost like a child, fraught with concern and amazement. With his other hand he smoothed Talia's sweat covered hair.

"Hi", he said softly.

"Hi", Talia laughed nervously.

"How you holdin' up?"

"I'm okay. We're okay."

"Okay", Hancock laughed sweetly.

"Hey, Daisy? Why did you have him boil water? I've never understood that... They sure as hell didn't boil water when I had Shaun", Talia asked shakily, trying to focus on something else.

"Well, a number of reasons. It kills germs so that I can wash the baby off when she comes out for starters-I'm assuming you _did_ use water that wasn't irradiated Hancock?", Daisy said.

"Of course!", he replied, a little insulted. Daisy was coming down on him pretty hard now.

"But for right now, i'm using the hot water to put on a washcloth and lightly press on your perineum. That way, you have a much lesser chance of tearing."

"Oh! Yeah, I'd say that's a good idea...", Talia said through gritted teeth.

Another wave crashed over her and her grip on Hancock's hand tightened immensely. He took a sharp breath as Talia shouted out in even more pain.

" _AUGH! WHY THE FUCK DOES THIS HAVE TO HURT SO **FUCKING MUCH**?!_ ", she bellowed angrily.

"Take it easy, Talia...", Hancock cautioned.

Daisy stared at him like the idiot he was at that moment.

Talia's head snapped to the left to look him in the eye, chest heaving in quick, deep breaths.

" _Don't tell me to take it easy, you fuck-this is **your** fault_!"

Hancock looked down in embarrassment as Talia's grasp on his hand loosened.

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry... I'm sorry...", she said in a shaky voice as tears rolled down her face.

"Hey... It's okay... I understand! You're in a lot of pain...", he reassured her, stroking her hair once again.

"And you were being an ass...", she added, crying.

"And I was being an ass...", he agreed, and kissed her forehead.

* * *

Hours and hours, back and forth between superhuman strength and super mutant anger-and sorrowful, guilty apologies, confessions of love, and assurances of affection. Hours and hours of sudden rising pain that intensified with every contraction. Hours and hours of reheating the boiled water, and refilling the smaller tub with cold water for a washcloth to cool Talia down. Daisy had thought that since Talia had reached 5 cm so quickly, that the labor would be short. She wasn't wrong, but she wasn't quite right either. It was almost 18 hours before Talia reached 8 cm.

Of course, people stopped by to check on them. Amari brought a dish of stew and bread, Mags dropped by for moral support for a few hours (Charlie had her slip Hancock some Jet and a bottle of the swill he called his beer, though she ditched the bottle in favor of one from Buddy at the Hotel Rexford), even a few drifters dropped by to see how things were going. The town was buzzing with excitement, and _everyone_ wanted to see the baby. A small gang started a pool down at the Third Rail. Most had their money on the baby being some kind of weird ghoul-human hybrid, with only a few people on 'healthy human', and a couple of particularly ruthless gangsters bidding on 'dead'. Charlie kept spilling their drinks and charging them for each replaced bottle because of that.

"So... Do you really think the kid is Hancock's?", a young drifter asked a neighborhood watchman.

"Well, I had my doubts at first. But I've seen Hancock in relationships before, and he's never been blind to anybody's faults-no matter how much he likes em'. Talia doesn't seem the type to run around, anyway. Besides; you don't go runnin' around on Hancock", he answered, scratching his head.

"I dunno; what are the odds that Hancock could knock up _anybody_? That's like, a million-to-one miracle, and I don't believe in no miracles."

"Hey kid-Why don't you wait until the girl's born before you start callin' her a bastard, huh? I've run with Hancock since before he got ghoulified; if the kid looks like him, then that'll be enough for me."

The drifter shrugged.

"Whatever you say, man", she said dismissively over her shoulder as she walked away.

 _"Screw her! I'm gonna go check on them myself!_ ", he decided.

He was almost to the State House before he realized all he had with him was his gun and his hat. " _What kinda frickin' idiot brings a gun to birth?! Ah shit, I don't think I **have** anything to give em'... Maybe there'll be something at the house_...", he thought to himself as he turned around and headed to his own home.

He'd holed up in one of the old warehouses. After Talia had cleaned house, Daisy had given Hancock the idea to renovate them into a sort of apartment system. Each one had two or three apartments on each floor, separated by built in walls. They were fairly good quality, thick wood that-while not being blocking _all_ the noise from the neighbors-did a decent job of providing privacy. Especially after Talia got it into her mind that there should be a double layer inbetween each wall. A few cans of paint and some community help, and the warehouses were fairly livable. Leakage from the roof wasn't bad, there was enough space, rent was reasonable... A lot of folks liked the change.

He lived on the second floor of the Warehouse by the market (now called Goodneighbor Flats) with his fella, a ghoul named Clancy. Clancy was only 20 when he started turning, but he'd been 20 for 60 years by now. Luck would have it, he was home when his boyfriend got there.

"Manny! Whatter ya doin' home so early? Thought yer shift weren't over till' 9!", Clancy said, looking up from a piece of paper he was writing on.

"I'm off in a few minutes, so I thought I'd go see how the boss and his girl are doin'. You heard about it, right?", Manuel replied, putting his machine gun on a hook rack and walking over to kiss Clancy on the cheek.

"Ya mean tha'she's pregnant? Old news, dear heart."

"Nah-She's in labor! I wanted to drop by, but I can't right do that without bringin' a gift for the kiddo."

"Ah! In labor is she? Huh, maybe I'll come with ya. I think I've got jest th' thing. 'S a girl, is she? I thought tha's what I heard."

"Yeah, a little girl. I heard they've already got a name picked out for her. Somethin' Irish, though I don't know why. Should've gone with a good old fashioned Spanish name!", Manuel smirked.

"Har har, ya ass", Clancy said, sticking out his tongue.

While Manuel was rummaging through a steamer trunk, Clancy walked to the cabinet they used to store winter blankets and coats. He pulled a thick wool blanket out from the bottom of a stack and unfolded it, letting the length of it tumble to his ankles as he held it up to show to Manuel, clearing his throat.

" _Ahem_! Whattya think?", Clancy asked.

"It's kinda big...", replied Manuel.

"Then hand me those scissors!"

Clancy pointed to the end table behind Manuel, and Manuel swooped them up. With a few quick snips, the blanket fell to the ground. Clancy now held a third of the original blanket-a much more appropriate size for a newborn.

"It's still a little big, Clance..."

"Well ah'course i'tis! It's gotta be a little big-tha' way they can wrap her up 'n it more; keep her warmer! Plus they'll get a longer use out've it. 'S a good blanket, too. Soft 's down, and plenty thick. Perfect for a brand new baby."

"You know, my parents never had any kids except for me. I've always wondered what a newborn looks like...", Manuel mused.

"T'be honest? Newborns are powerful ugly. Wrinkly little things, bright red like a tato and heads shaped like fekkin' eggs. They don't really get cute till there a few weeks old.", Clancy laughed.

"Well then; either way she'll come out lookin' like her father!"

The pair shared a chuckle at that as they folded up the blankets, putting the larger back in the cabinet and the smaller under Manuel's arm.

"There's two of us, an' only one gift... Think I'll stop by Daisy's t' see if she's got a bear or a bottle or somethin'", Clancy announced as they headed out of their flat.

"Oh she won't be there. Who do you think is delivering the lil' thing?", Manuel informed him.

"I dinnit know Daisy had experience in tha'..."

"Well, she _has_ been around for a few hundred years. She's probably got a lot of hidden talents. Still though; it's not like a whole lotta people in Goodneighbor are havin' babies. Not exactly a 'child friendly' place."

"But ain't _nobody_ gonna fek with tha' kid, tha's fer sure", Clancy added, stone faced.

Manuel nodded in agreement.

"I think I'll pop by Daisy's anyway. If I find anythin', I'll leave a few caps on her counter. Meet ya there, luv.", Clancy said as he walked away, blowing a kiss.

* * *

When Manuel walked through the door he was immediately greeted by two things; the sight of Fahrenheit sitting of the steps of the spiral staircase with her head in her hands, deep in thought, and the sound of Talia screaming obscenities in a voice much, much lower than usual. He was almost afraid to go near the sounds, but Fahrenheit noticed him standing on the threshold.

"Wait a minute. You don't want to go in there when she's screaming like that, trust me. When she stops, you'll have maybe 8 or 10 minutes before you'll need to retreat", she informed him.

"Ah... Thanks, Fahrenheit."

"Sure. Nice blanket."

Manuel stood in the same spot as he waited for the furious, sob-dotted shrieks to die down. A minute passed before all that could be heard was Daisy updating Talia on her situation, Talia crying, and Hancock softly comforting her. Fahrenheit nodded her head and gestured him to go on in.

He stepped in front of the open room and looked in, trying to see if it really was an okay time to stop in. Talia caught sight of him and tried to smile invitingly, but it came off as more of the desperate look of a hostage trying to convince someone they were alone.

"Uh... Hello?", Manuel said quietly.

Hancock looked up at him.

"Ah, Manny! Another curious visitor. What drew you in; the sounds or rumors?", Hancock joked.

"Both. Hey Talia... How you-"

" _Thank you for coming to see us, but if you ask me "How you holding up?" I swear to God I will rip your hands off and shove them down your throat._ ", Talia interrupted.

Manuel stood, shocked. He glanced at Hancock, as if he might know what just happened.

"Yeah... It's the go-to for the evening. It's become kinda grating to hear, no offense", Hancock shrugged.

"Sorry... Shoulda figured", Manuel apologized.

"No problem. Hey, whatcha got there?", Hancock asked, pointing to the folded blanket under Manuel's arm.

"Oh! I uh, brought somethin' for the baby. It's a blanket."

"Thank you Manuel...", Talia said sweetly, out of breath.

"Don't mention it, Talia. Oh! Daisy; Clancy dropped by your store to find something to give the baby himself. Just thought you should know."

"Oh? That's alright. I think there was a stuffed bear somewhere, last I checked", Daisy replied.

Just then, they heard the front door open and shut, and Fahrenheit tell someone where to go.

"Speak of the devil!", Daisy smiled. "How are you Clancy? Still writing those letters to Piper out in Diamond City?"

"Not as often, but yeah. She's slowly but surely makin' progress with th' fools in the city about us Ghouls. And Talia, Hancock; How-"

"DON'T.", all three shouted at Clancy.

Clancy didn't finish his sentence.

"I see you found something, kid", Daisy said to Clancy.

"Mm? Ah, yeah! Found the lil' babe a nice bear. Hope she'll like it."

"She's a baby; she'll like anything she can fit in her mouth!", Talia said with a little laugh. "Thank you, Clancy. I'm sure she'll love it."

"I just hope she gets here soon...", Hancock added.

Talia suddenly sucked in a huge breath and once again crushed Hancock's hand.

" _For both our sake's_ ", Hancock whimpered.

Clancy and Manuel looked at each other in silent agreement. They lay their gifts down next to Hancock, and started to make for the door.

"Good luck you two!", Clancy shouted over his shoulder.

All they got in response was Talia roaring in pain.

* * *

Twenty minutes had passed since their last visitors, and it looked like there would be no more visitors for the evening. Daisy reassured Talia, Hancock stayed dutifully by her side, and Talia did her best not to break his wrist. Contractions were now only two minutes apart, and she was almost completely dilated.

Talia didn't notice, but Daisy did; Hancock was distracted.

Distracted by his earlier revelation. Talia not only was fine with their daughter having his family name, but had actually _suggested_ that she have it. That got him thinking about their little family. Thinking about responsibility, and love, and how change isn't always bad. Scary, sure; but not always bad. Love had a way of making you willing to do things you never would have even considered otherwise. And so the words 'Husband and Wife' kept popping into his mind. Every time he looked at Talia's face in the past 19 hours-either screaming, crying, or smiling-he couldn't help but think " _What a beautiful woman she is... What a beautiful wife she'd make..._ ". She was strong, and smart, and fantastic at managing settlements. She was kind, and warm, and not afraid of anyone or anything. She was his better half, and she went through so much grief just for him. She was his better half, and he'd never loved quite like this. He'd never gotten excited when he thought about things like this before-it had always terrified him. Yet, ever since Talia got pregnant, when he thought about being married to her he couldn't keep himself from smiling.

So lost in these thoughts was he, that he didn't hear Daisy at first when she started shouting.

"Alright, honey-It's time to push!", she told Talia with a grin.

Talia let out a harsh cry as she squeezed Hancock's hand once more. It was almost time.

And in the heat of the moment Hancock felt rushed to make a choice, then and there.

Talia stopped pushing for a moment, to catch her breath. Her face was wet with tears and sweat, and her head was tossed back in agony. Hancock looked at her with the expression of a man faced with a time bomb. It was now or never.

"Talia, I love you", Hancock said quickly.

Talia grunted, but leaned her head towards him.

" _I love you, too_ ", she repeated back, crying.

She took a few sobbing breaths and Hancock grew more restless.

" **Push!** ", Daisy shouted again.

Talia pushed again, this time letting out a high-pitched scream rather than a low bellow.

"Marry me!", Hancock said, loud and quick.

Talia snapped her head to face him, looking at him like a mad man.

" _Are you fucking serious_?!", she screamed. " _Are you seriously asking me_ ** _now_**?! _While I'm pushing a baby out of my body_?!"

"I guess I am!", he said with a joyous laugh, smoothing her hair back as she leaned back onto the pillow behind her head.

" **Push!** "

Talia grunted this time.

"Good, good! You're almost there! And Hancock; _You're an idiot_!", Daisy shouted, shooting him a look.

Talia whimpered as she fell back to the pillow, weeping in pain.

She lifted her free hand to touch Hancock's cheek, and his hand raised to hold hers as she caressed his face.

" _Yes_ , _John._ _Yes, I will marry you_!", she proclaimed, still crying in torment.

Hancock choked back a laugh and a sob, and kissed Talia's hand. He smiled, enraptured by the moment, and they looked into each other's eyes.

" **Push! You're almost there Talia!** "

Another shriek of pain, another powerful push-

-and they heard a sound that changed their lives forever.

A tiny voice, wailing, bleating, howling.

"One more time, honey! One more time!", Daisy said as she began to cry herself.

And so she did. One last push, and the moment they'd been waiting for had finally arrived.

In Daisy's hands, there lay a tiny, bloody, squirming squealing thing.

"Yep; it's a girl alright!", Daisy choked.

Talia let out a laugh of relief and tried to raise herself to look, and Hancock beamed with pride and sheer bliss.

Daisy carefully stood up to walk over to the pot of water, and dipped a hand in to make sure it wasn't too hot. Bonnie's parents waited back in the room anxiously, and Hancock lightly squeezed Talia's hand.

"You did it... You did it... She's here, she's okay! All that worry for nothing!", he laughed.

Talia was too exhausted to say anything, so she just laughed with him.

When Daisy came back, she held a clean bright tomato red baby, swaddled in a warm cotton blanket. She was still wailing as she handed her to her mother-but soon after she was nestled against Talia's breast, her father's arm wrapped around her and her mother, Bonnie was resting quietly, mewling every so often.

"Okay, Bonnie's all cleaned up; your turn, momma bear!", Daisy smiled, picking up the lighter, antiseptic, and stitching supplies.

Talia thought the stitching would hurt, but it was absolutely _nothing_ compared to the pain she'd felt for 19 hours prior.

But it was all so, _so_ worth it.

Bonnie's little eyes were closed, and no one had seen what they'd looked like yet. Talia was a little bit anxious to see them. She wanted to make sure her baby was healthy as soon as possible.

And, from the look of her, she was a healthy baby indeed. Bonnie was so soft in her arms, and even though Hancock held her head in his rough hand, she slept so peacefully. Honestly, Hancock was delighted that she didn't wake up. In fact, she didn't even squirm. He had thought that her sensitive new skin would be bothered by his calloused touch, and had resigned himself to that long ago-but it did not bother her at all. She stay soundly asleep.

Talia peeled her eyes away from her for a few moments to look at equally as lovingly at him.

"Well?", she whispered. "Don't you want to hold her?"

"Honestly? I thought... I dunno what I thought. God, look at her; she's so little...", he said quietly back, dazed.

Talia held the little bundle up for him to take, though her fingers lingered on the blanket as he lifted her up into his arms. He looked at her, and back to her mother like he was holding the single best thing in the universe. In those first minutes, despite all of the unknowns, he knew everything he needed to. She was here. She was healthy. She was safe. They both were. Hell; they _all_ were.

"Hello...", he cooed.

It was a strange sound to hear from Hancock, even to himself. And Bonnie heard it too. Her little eyes flicked open-though only for a second-and he could see they were the most brilliant blue. Just like his were.


	6. Chapter 6

Six years ago, the sight of a small girl bouncing along a hopscotch court laid out inbetween the State House and the shops would have been an inconceivable _thought_ , much less so a possibility. But things change. Societies evolve, even small towns such as Goodneighbor. And Bonnie wasn't even the only child in Goodneighbor anymore, though she was older than most of the others, and by far their leader despite not being the oldest either. Out of the 4 children that lived in Goodneighbor these days, she was the one that could be viewed as the head of the group-definitely her father's daughter.

Her social skills and attitude weren't the only things claiming her as such. Wild, long blonde curls fell down to the middle of her back, and a pair of bright blue eyes - speckled with green - defined her cocky grin as even more charming than her father's. What few people who knew Hancock before he turned was that he was a remarkably attractive man, his looks adding to his charisma - and any of the few people still in town from then could definitely see how much of him was a part of her.

That isn't to say that you couldn't see Talia in her as well. Bonnie was heavily freckled, and had her mother's warmth about her. Not to mention that Talia insisted that Bonnie be taught Spanish alongside English - teaching Hancock in the process - , and the girl was as smart as her parents' combined.

Manuel watched her jump, crossing his arms so his gun dangled from one hand and his other holding his chin.

"Ha! I saw that, you're out!", he exclaimed with a victorious shout.

"What d'you mean?!", Bonnie shouted back with insult.

Manuel shook his finger, pointing to feet.

"Your left foot left the '7' box!"

"Did not! You!-", Bonnie shouted again, snapping her head to the side to look at a passerby, her little curls whipping against her dress.

The drifter stopped and made sure to face her, shocked by the command in such a small child's voice.

"You saw didn't you?! My foot _wasn't_ out!"

They shrugged.

"Sorry kid. From where I stood, it looked like it was out th' box", the man answered before walking away.

Bonnie started to pout, sticking her bottom lip out in an exaggerated angry face.

Manuel held up a hand as he bent down to her level.

"Aw, don't be like that Bonnie. You're little. You don't have to win _every_ game", he said softly, picking up the rock they were using to mark the out-square on the hopscotch court.

"But I _want_ to!", Bonnie replied exasperatedly.

She never stayed angry for long.

"Well, then you'll just have to practice! And grow up, big and strong like me, and Daisy, and your mom and dad!"

Manuel gave her a reassuring pat on the head and smiled at her.

"That's gonna take _forever_..."

"Well, then just focus on practicing balancing! That way you'll be really good at it by the time you're all grown up!"

Bonnie thought about what Manuel had said silently while he took his turn, and leaned against the wall with her hands behind her back. She'd ask her parents what she should do to practice being the _best_ when they got home later that week.

Talia and Hancock took up adventuring again when Bonnie was 4, and old enough to make it known exactly what she needed and how to take care of the basics - getting dressed, tying shoes, playing only where there was a friend or a Neighborhood Watchman like Manuel or Clancy around. Since Fahrenheit was more or less _not_ the best babysitter around, Daisy would often stay with her. Less 'stay with her', really, and more 'come over in the mornings to wake her up, make sure she's dressed, fed, and taught, then at night feed her again, read to her, and tuck her in'.

Though noone had asked him to, and he wasn't getting anything extra for it, Manuel had taken to being the 'guardian' for the gaggle of children that now ran the streets of Goodneighbor. While Daisy would give them their book learning, Manuel taught them a thing or two about life. He'd teach them to shoot a rifle, or let them take a glimpse outside of the walls, and he'd teach them to play games or answer the hard questions children their age asked. They'd flock outside of Daisy's shop and Manuel would be getting on shift about then. They'd wait for him to show up, and then their afternoons began.

But it was late at night now, and Bonnie was the only one still outside. When she had to do something in her shop at night, Daisy wouldn't just leave Bonnie in the house. Though Bonnie would feign bravery and insist that she didn't need to be tucked in anymore (" _Tia_ Daisy, c'mon! I'm 6, I can handle going to sleep!", she'd insist with her teddy bear in her arms and dressed in her nightgown. If Daisy complied, she'd wait around for a few minutes and eventually hear Bonnie trying not to cry because she was alone.), she knew Bonnie better than that. So Daisy took Bonnie with her and let her play under the watchful eyes of Manuel, until she got business done.

"Daisy, are you almost done? Bonnie looks like she's about ready to sleep on the street!", Manuel asked loudly, crouching down in front of Bonnie again, who had slumped against the wall she was leaning on and shut her eyes.

"Am not...", Bonnie shouted weakly, stifling a yawn.

"'Fraid not. Looks like I'm gonna be here for awhile. Manny, do you think you could put her to bed? I doubt she'd even need a story tonight, you'd just have to tuck her in", Daisy sighed, calling back to Manuel.

"No problem, I can do that!", he gleefully replied, picking Bonnie up and carrying her into the State House.

The large house was quiet, even with the three other people inside, and it was only a few degrees warmed inside than it was outside. He carried Bonnie up to her room and set her down on her bed. Her eyes fluttered open and she rubbed them, trying to instill a little more wakefulness in herself so she could put on her pajamas.

"Call me back in when you're dressed, Bon", he said quietly, pulling the door shut behind himself as he exited her room.

A minute later she pulled the door open herself and looked up at Manuel.

"I don't wanna sleep in my room tonight", she said matter-of-factly, sleep shading her voice until it was little more than a whisper.

"Yeah, and where might you be sleeping then?", Manuel asked, amused.

Bonnie didn't respond - just pointed at her parents room. Manuel's heart rose and fell for the little girl. She talked tough, and she spoke intelligently for a 6 year old, but at the end of the day - quite literally - she was barely above being a toddler. She missed her parents.

"Okay girlie. Come on. I'll get you tucked in", he told her with a gentle smile as he took her hand and led her to her parents room.

The room hadn't changed much over the years, aside from a few more trunks and containers being around, and it was almost devoid of decoration; but the quilts on the bed looked cozy and warm, and Bonnie could smell her mother and father on the pillows. With a little difficulty she climbed up on to it and pried the covers loose from the mattress.

"I have no idea what I'm doing", Manuel admitted while he waited for Bonnie to get settled in.

" _But you told Daisy you-!"_ , Bonnie whined

"Well you'll just have to teach me!", Manuel interrupted, holding his hand up once again.

Bonnie let out a small, frustrated squeal and threw the quilt back, hopping out of the bed again. Her little bare feet thudded on the wooden floor all the way back to her own room, Manuel in tow. She pushed the door open and approached her bed, plucking something folded off of the end of it.

"First, you bring my blankie into mommy and daddy's room. I don't carry it anymore; I'm big!", she announced, and tossed the big fluffy blanket Manuel's way.

He stared at it as Bonnie plodded back into her parent's room and once again scaled the frame of their bed. It took him a moment to recognize it, though it had immediately seemed familiar. The color had changed and the homespun yarn had frayed, but he realized it was the blanket he and Clancy had given Bonnie when she was born.

"Manny come on!", Bonnie cried out impatiently.

He obliged, rolling the blanket up around his forearm.

When he reentered the room Bonnie lay with her head propped up on her father's pillow and her arms outstretched, hands opening and closing in a "gimmie" motion. He handed it to her and pulled the quilt up around her chin, nice and warm.

"I hafta have my blankie", Bonnie explained sleepily.

"Oh?"

"Mm-hm. Can't sleep without it."

Manuel was deeply touched. _"Couldn't sleep without it"!_

"You know... Clancy and I gave that to you the day you were born."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. Well, technically it was _just_ me", Manuel teased.

Bonnie giggled.

"I don't wanna be tucked in like this tonight."

"What do you mean? What other ways _are_ there?"

Bonnie thought for a moment.

"A cigar!"

"I'm not giving you a cigar, Bon."

Bonnie stuck her tongue out at him and kicked the blanket down again before sitting up in the bed. She got down for the last time and had Manuel help her pull the quilt off the bed entirely. Bonnie showed him how to lay the blanket inside-out on the bed, and once she was laying on a corner she instructed him to roll her up.

"Like a cigar!"

"How are you going to hold onto your blanket then?"

"It'll be inside the cigar, with me!", she giggled again, clutching the smaller blanket to her chest.

They laughed as he rolled her up so tightly that she couldn't move her arms, just as she instructed.

"This isn't helping you get to sleep!", he chortled in his throaty voice.

"I'll say", another man's voice said from the doorway.

Manuel spun around in surprise, blocking Bonnie's head. She threw her torso forward and managed to sit up.

" _Daddy!_ ", she squealed, and fell back onto the bed so she could wriggle out of the blanket.

She bounded out of the bed and into her father's open arms with a huge grin on her face and her stomach buzzing with delight.

"Hey, Bunny. How's my girl?", Hancock asked the girl happily as he knelt on the floor, his voice vibrating into a churr.

"Impossible to get to sleep!", Manuel answered for her as he crossed his arms and smiled.

"I can see that. I thought Daisy was the one puttin' Bonnie to bed, where's she?", Hancock inquired with a more calm voice, picking up his daughter as he stood back up.

"Where's _mommy_?", Bonnie interrupted.

"She's coming tomorrow. She stopped off in Sanctuary to put some stuff away", Hancock replied to Bonnie, becoming obviously more excited and almost giddy when he spoke to her.

"Daisy had to work late, so she asked me to do it. Turns out - _I have no idea how to put children to bed_ ", Manuel admitted nonchalantly.

Hancock let out a little snort.

"Figured that from the way you rolled her up. She says it's extra comfortable, but it sure as hell doesn't make her go to sleep any faster. Just makes her _laugh_ ", he said, tickling Bonnie at the last part and making her giggle.

Manuel held out his knuckles and bowed his head.

" _Oh merciful and brilliant Queen Bonnie, will you forgive me for this insolence_?", he asked in an theatrical quaver.

"No!", Bonnie giggled.

Manuel lifted his head, dropping his hands to his side, and stared at Bonnie with wide, shocked eyes - shifting his glance back and forward from daughter to father as if he were in disbelief and expected Hancock to do anything but grin.

" ** _No_ _?!_** ", he repeated in faked offense, making Bonnie giggled again.

He looked away, pretending to process the answer to the best of his ability, and began to make his exit. He stopped halfway down the spiraling staircase and looked up at Hancock and Bonnie, who were still in the doorway.

" " **No**...", Manuel loudly mumbled as he looked them in the eye, still pretending to be shocked and hurt.

They watched him leave out the front door, probably back to his house as it was well past the end of his shift now. Hancock chuckled and carried Bonnie back into his room, setting her down on the bed.

"Do I have to go to my room now?", Bonnie asked with disappointment.

"Nah. You can sleep with me tonight, Bunny", Hancock replied as he took off his hat and set it on the dresser.

Bonnie bounced up and down on the mattress with happiness. It'd be even better if her mom was there, but her Dad was more than enough to make her sleep soundly and securely.

She curled up around his right arm once he got into bed, her blanket still in her hand, and Hancock looked down at his little daughter. Her bright blue eyes stared up at him sleepily - the way that small children do when they've become so excited and tired that they've tuckered themselves out. He kissed the top of her head and lay on his back to sleep, expecting that at some point Bonnie would end up asleep on his chest during some point of the night - or at the very least, one of her limbs would.

"Goodnight, Bonnie."

"G'nigh...", she murmured, her eyelids finally too heavy to hold up, and fell asleep.

Hancock was glad to be home. He'd missed adventuring and (mostly-)justified murder, but within a few days back out in the open air he'd miss his daughter. He could tell that Talia felt the same way. But they couldn't just stagnate and stay in Goodneighbor for the rest of their lives; they had people to protect, settlements to defend and run, and an entire Commonwealth of the worst scum around to wipe off the face of the Earth.

He had been working on a plan to remedy that.

He was going to try and convince Talia that when Bonnie turned 8, they could take her with them on Settlement visits. Most of the Settlement leaders knew about Bonnie, but only a few of their friends had ever met Bonnie. _Their_ visits weren't exactly consistent.

Danse had only seen her once when she was four, but had taken a shine to the girl. He let her use him like a jungle gym, and let her hang off of his arm like a monkey - a game she loved, but couldn't play with her father.

Cait, Deacon, and Curie hadn't met her yet, but had congratulated them. Well, at first, Curie had congratulated Talia, and asked if it was a hard decision to have a sperm donor. Talia was more insulted than Hancock was; after all, she'd been accused of cheating, asked if they'd had an accident during a threesome or something, even questioned if she had been assaulted. Hancock had learned to recite "It's mine. No, we don't know how, only that it is", but all throughout her walking-around months of pregnancy, Talia had to restrain herself. But Cait asking had just made her laugh. At least it was more polite than the other questions she'd been asked.

Piper and Preston visited for the first time together, deciding it'd be a safer trip with two people.

But the two people who visited the most were Nick and MacCready - more specifically, Nick, MacCready, and Duncan. After Bonnie was born and MacCready came to congratulate the happy family, he'd decided to go back to the Capital Wastes and retrieve him. Nick came on his own, and almost always brought a present. Maybe not always something for Bonnie, but she'd clap her fat little toddler hands and shriek when she saw him. "Your my favorite Uncle - _but don't tell Uncle Ma-Creey!_ ", Bonnie had once whispered to him as a 3 year old. She could pronounce MacCready yet, and though she looked forward to playing with Duncan, she noticed that talking to Nick (and most of the Pre-War ghouls for that matter) always made her mom happy in a way she didn't often see. Nostalgic, but not sadly. Not to mention the stories.

And Hancock wanted her to see all of these people to meet her. He wanted her to learn about the rest of the world; how to survive, how to protect herself - and the ones she loved. And with what he'd brought back for her, he'd begin to teach her how to do just that tomorrow.


	7. Chapter 7

Sure enough, Hancock awoke the next day to the feeling of Bonnie's leg resting on his stomach. She lay on her front with her face turned to the side, a waterfall of curls laying over her face. Groggily smiling, he reached out a hand to remove a lock of her hair from her mouth, a habit she had retained since infancy. It tickled her nose, and she scrunched up her face and turned away. She was awake, he was sure of it - just playing possum - and she knew the rule; once he or Talia was up for the day, then so was she. From the sunlight pouring into the room, he could tell that they'd slept long past the norm and almost all the way to 10 AM. He sat up and his head throbbed a little, making the fog of suddenly wakefulness intensify that much more. A bit of a mentat hangover, he assumed. He reached for a container he kept in the nightstand and remembered that only a foot away was his 6 year old daughter. He decided against a little hair of the dog just yet, and turned his attention back to his more pressing concern - getting Bonnie to admit she was up.

He tried bouncing the mattress a couple times with his hand, and though Bonnie flopped around on the mattress, her expression remained that of a sleeping little girl.

"C'mon Bun, up an' at 'em", he said sternly but playfully.

She stayed motionless.

"Oh, so that's how you're gonna play this huh? That suits me just fine."

He rubbed his hands together with a menacing grin.

"If you don't get up right now, I'm gonna feed you cold Insta-Mash for every meal you have today."

He paused, half-expecting his bluff to work. "You do that anyway!", he hoped to hear in an exasperated squeak.

No dice. She stayed in the awkward position she had fallen back onto the mattress in. He noticed her chin quiver as if to stifle a comment hurriedly.

"Catfood, here girl!", he yelled out.

When Dogmeat had puppies with another dog, Daisy who was bought from - to Talia's delight and confusion - a dog breeder she'd come across in her and Hancock's travels, as a way to help Bonnie cope with her mother being gone at least one week out of every month, she and Hancock decided to bring her one of Dogmeats puppies; one of the friendliest ones, a girl whom Bonnie had kept in grand tradition and named 'Catfood'. She idolized her human, and was a little more than enthusiastic at the opportunity given to be with Bonnie. Hancock could hear the little click-clack! of puppy claws on the wooden floor as she raced from the first floor into the master bedroom. Seeing Bonnie laying on the bed with an arm dangling off the edge made Catfood let out a sharp bark! and immediately dashed to the other side of the room - sliding into the wall when she tried to stop. She yelped at her mistress some more, but still not even the sound of her best non-human, nor ghoul friend made her stir.

Hancock could see the crack of a smile forming on the edges of her lips, and knew that he almost had her.

"Alright, give kisses!", he encouraged the little over-zealous puppy.

She licked Bonnie's hand gleefully, but seeing that she still would not move concerned her. She whined at her, and looked back at Hancock with a concerned expression. Still, Bonnie would not move.

"Remind me not to let anyone teach you to play poker, kiddo", Hancock mused.

Bark!

Catfood jumped up on the bed and bounded towards Hancock before he knew what was happening, and leapt into him, knocking him to the ground with a thud! and licking his face with gusto.

"Ack! Catfood no! Bad girl! Not me, Bonnie! Down girl!", he cried, pushing the joyful puppy off of his chest and dramatically wiping the dog drool from his face and chest. He glared at Bonnie, picked himself back up off the floor, and shrugged.

"Alright. I guess I'm just gonna have to pull my trump card out, ain't I?", Hancock said in a mock-serious voice.

With a flouncing movement, he sat on Bonnie's side of the bed, right next to her.

"Last chance."

He waited for her to roll over and giggle, holding her hands out in front of her. No such luck - for Bonnie that is. She wore a shivering smile now.

Hancock rolled her part of the way over and - light handedly - began to tickle her. It was barely two seconds before she opened her eyes and shrieked, laughing.

"Oh you lightweight!", Hancock laughed along, not stopping his improvised waking-technique even after she'd started to try and pull his hand off her stomach.

She decided to opt for attempting to tickle him after she realized that that wasn't going to cut it.

"Ha! Nice try little girl; you have to be a smoothskin for tickle-attack to work!", he taunted, suddenly pulling her onto his lap and giving her a side-ways hug.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! I heard Uncle Clancy telling someone three days ago that he likes the way Manny feels, and that he tickles! What else could he've been talking about but tickling?", Bonnie blurted with vigor.

Hancock made sounds like tea-kettle (or a rusty one, rather).

"Bun... Were you supposed to be listening to that conversation?"

Bonnie crossed her arms defensively.

"Maaaaybe...", she replied.

"Oohhh Bonnie. He ah, wasn't talking about tickling. When you're older, you'll get it", he said wiping tears from his eyes.

Bonnie stuck her tongue out and swung her legs back and forth on his lap, gaining momentum to jump to the ground with a slap of little bare feet. She picked up Catfood and padded her way to her own room, stopping abruptly before exiting Hancock's room and turning to look at him with a grim expression.

"Daddy... Please don't make me eat cold Insta-Mash this morning!", she said very seriously.

"Go get dressed and we'll see what I can do", Hancock answered, getting off of the bed to get dressed himself.

Bonnie ran to her room and shut her door hard behind her.

"And don't brush your hair yourself! Let either Daisy or me do it!", he yelled after her.

* * *

Talia was only a few short miles from home - from Goodneighbor that is - and from her family. Well, her biological family anyway.

She wasn't sure she was doing the right thing by her children anymore, keeping Shaun and Bonnie from knowing about each other. While she knew that Bonnie would be able to handle the situation better than most adults, Shaun had been... Unpredictable lately. It had been hard enough when he hit puberty, and still even harder when he'd eventually figured out that he wasn't quite like the other boys; even with all the male synth role-models a young man could ask for in both Danse AND Nick, he was still moody and sullen when reminded of his inhumanity in even the slightest ways. And with this last visit, he'd been pushing her away and pulling at her fraying nerves even more than normal.

"It's natural for little boys to want to be independent from their mother's at 14, Talia! Give him some space - but still be within earshot!", she had been told countless times by anyone within eavesdropping distance.

Fat lot of good that rhetoric did to her worries and fears for her son. She knew she wasn't the perfect mother for Shaun or Bonnie; but she loved them with enough ferocity for a thousand mothers of one, and she was only doing what she thought was best for them. But it was quickly becoming not the best thing for them. The older and more withdrawn Shaun was becoming, the more she was realizing that he needed to be told about his half-sister ASAP; before the impact of finding out he has a baby sister becomes less of an indent and more of a blast zone.

So now it was a waiting game. Back and forth between Sanctuary and Gooneighbor, and back and forth in her mind. Check on Bonnie, check on Shaun. Wait for Shaun to reach a more temperate mood, and then in a split-second, decide if he's ready to know the truth. Who knows how many weeks or even months will be in between all of those checkpoints?

And so, Talia was reasonably lost in thought as she stumbled and climbed through the crumbling building ruins along the way to the ever-expanding Goodneighbor - so much so that she almost didn't pick up on the echoing ping-ping-ping of a small metal object on concrete.

Once it had captured her attention, she had immediately mistaken it for the firing of a pipe pistol. But the firings weren't rapid enough, nor were they loud enough. Whoever was making those sounds was likely one of two things; either someone harmless or nearly so, or a feral ghoul either chained up or accidentally hitting something. She decided to take the risk and follow the sound, climbing over enormous piles of rubble that formed man-made mountainscapes, the valleys of which were so deep and narrow that as she went along it became apparent that the source was much further away than previously anticipated - the sound must have been rebounding off the dry canals of the city from at least a couple miles away, deeper into the mutant-infested streets.

The closer she came the darker it got, and though she had been in the Commonwealth for well over 5 years now, Talia realized that she'd never been outside of Goodneighbor yet inside of Boston during sunset before. It was almost breathtaking. The view around her as she scaled hill over hill of destroyed glass and steel and cement that was almost constantly set in a state of vastly muted already-drab hues that would be a perversion to even consider 'colors' were suddenly glowing red and orange and yellow - and for once, it wasn't because of any Earth-made radiation. Sure, she had seen the sun rise and set over the Commonwealth wilderness, and around the various suburbs and towns, and even around Diamond City, Far Harbor, and Nuka World - but never before in the urban jungle surrounding Goodneighbor on all sides. The dystopia around Goodneighbor was so much heavier and more thickly lain than anywhere else in the Commonwealth, though MacCready and Danse had told her that it was nothing compared to that of the areas by Rivet City in D.C.

The pinging grew more insistent, snapping Talia out of the semi-trance the sunset had left her in and ushering her forward once more. Once, she misplaced a handhold and skidded halfway down a pile of rubble, leaving a scraped knee and a bruised palm, but she persisted. The light from her pipboy wasn't much help to combat the eeriness around her now that it was nearly dark out; hell, the green glow made it almost worse. Soon all manner of nasties would be coming out in larger droves than during the day. She needed to hurry.

She traced the sound to a nearly closed off area of debries, around what appeared to be decrepit townhouses, but she could see nothing to make the noise. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it appeared to be coming from a thick slab of cement structure. She shrugged off the natural fear of danger, and cleared her throat warily.

"Is someone there?", she asked loudly, and held her breath.

The noise stopped, and a finalizing-moment stiffness hung in the dusty air.

"Y-yes? Yes! Hello? Yes! I'm down here! Behind this big piece of cement! Can you hear me?!", a rough-yet-attractive young voice shouted from behind the wall.

"Hello! Yes, I can hear you! Do you need some help?"

"Oh God _yes I need some damn help_ , please help me! I've been trying to dig myself out of her for what feels like forever!"

Uh-oh.

"Ah, okay just stand back! Like, all the way back!", Talia shouted back once more, knowing what to expect once she got this person out of there.

"Okay! Thank you, thank you so much!"

Talia drew a shotgun off her back and held in her hands for a moment. She wasn't sure it would be enough, but she'd seen it chip off things harder than crumbling ancient cement before. She took a few steps back to avoid the shrapnel, aimed at the bottom of the slab, and squeezed the trigger.

 ** _BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!_**

She fired three times, hoping that would be enough to make a hole wide enough for whoever was trapped to crawl out. She wasn't as concerned about their eyes, since it was now nighttime, but she was concerned about their ears. The shells from her shotgun were much louder than whatever they were using to shovel themselves out, and even her own veteran ears were ringing from being in such close proximity.

Sure enough, there was a hole just large enough to put your head through, but not the whole body. She quickly looked around for a pipe and took a good swing at the wall.

It crumbled quickly after that, each strike knocking loose handfuls of cement. Soon she could see just inside, a black form standing in front of a dim lightbulb.

"Come on out. You're safe now, so long as you stick with me."

The form stepped in front of the hole, blocking the view entirely.

Just as Talia suspected, it was ghoul; a girl, young by the looks of it, in a sleeveless blue checked shirtdress. She had long, wavy brown hair, and blue eyes like most ghouls, skin the color of wood-polish. Aside from the amount of hair she had, and for the most part her voice, she had the usual ghoul physical appearance. In her arms was a cat. Or at least, Talia _thought_ it was a cat; the poor thing was a bit grizzled with patches of skin showing, and while she still had her nose, her ears were full of holes, and the tip of her tail was gone.

Talia didn't so much as flinch. She just held out her hand to help her through the wall.

"Welcome to the Commonwealth kid. I'm Talia", she said with a smile, prompting her to take her hand once more.

With an unsure look, the girl took it.

"Maria Lantigua. This is Patches", she replied, nodding her head toward the cat comfortably resting her head on her shoulder like a baby.

"Well Maria. As you can see, things aren't quite the way you left them when you got trapped. How old were you? When the bombs fell?"

"I'm 18. What do you mean, "How old was I"? It _feels_ like it's been a long time, sure; but the lights haven't gone out, and I haven't run out of food... Not even cat food."

Talia looked around them, and sighed.

"Then you're old enough that I don't have to worry too much about how you're going to take this. Look, it's... It's been a very long time since the bombs fell. Trust me, I was there too. But it's not safe here, so we need to get going. I'll try to explain as much as I can on the way. Let's go", Talia told Maria solemnly.

Seeing the rubble and decay to such an unthinkable degree in the dim glow of Talia's pipboy and the light behind her from her basement was exactly the thing to make Maria inclined to believe her, or at least to consider her safer than staying on her own. Talia was _strapped_. From her shins to her shoulders, there was every kind of weapon Maria would have thought necessary if the Chinese took over - plus some she'd never even imagined. And someone who stopped to help a young girl get out of a blocked off basement _couldn't_ have been a danger to her...

Right?


End file.
